A couple of weeks ago I made a list…. Let’s see how I am doing with just over one week to go;
1. Finish planning the routeย – Nowhere near finished; I have got as far as Strasbourg with some stages only remarkable in their lack of detail
2. Have the bike serviced (it is entitled to a free one following its purchase earlier in the year) โ Done! No more rattles ๐ I’ll probably not use it until Sunday the 18th to give my body a rest this week so I’ll be back to lifts to work or perhaps the train. My left knee is grumbling so this will hopefully alleviate that little issue as well.
3. Buy the ferry ticket – Done! Dover to Boulogne.
4. Ring the camp-site in Canterbury to check reservation situation –ย Not done. I had gone down the Warmshowers route and was very enthusiastic just after Alain Lenain had visited but having emailed quite a few people between London and Strasbourg and having only received one (negative!) reply, I’m wondering how much I can rely on this method of accommodation.
5. Buy travel insurance – Done! Endsleigh for about ยฃ35.
6. Practice putting the tent up – Done! I put it up in friend Zoe’s garden a couple of weeks ago and may well do so again tonight and sleep in it as I am at her house this evening for a few drinks…
7. Buy extra megabytes for Internet access on the phone (ยฃ2 per dayย for 2MB per day)ย – Not done but I have made “progress” in this area by buying the iPhone.
8. Buy tracking device (?) โ Done! Just need to work out how to embed the maps on www.eurovelo5.com
9. Sort out financial bits and pieces (bills etcโฆ) – More or less done. Just have to set up a few payments to be paid at the start of August.
10. Pack and go! – Obviously not but I have started to “gather” which is the stage before “pack”. My futon sofa bed is a pile of bits and pieces that grows and occasionally shrinks as my whim changes as to the necessity of certain items (washing powder?).
Six out of ten; that’s not too bad. The problem is that if I really sat down and thought, it would actually be six out of twenty, thirty or forty….
Categories: Cycling
4 Campsite.
I think this place takes tents even though it is a caravan club site:
http://www.cobbsmeadow.co.uk/index.htm
This place is closer to canterbury in case you want to take a trip into there in the evening for a look around (just 3 miles). The other site you have on your planning is a bit in the middle of nowhere so get what you need before you get there if you stay there.
For me cycling down the north side of the A2 into Dover is much nicer than the other side of the A2. You will have a little further to cycle to Dover from this site so I suppose it depends on your ferry crossing time and wants of the day. You wont have far to cycle when you get to Boulogne I suppose.
Which day will you be camping and which day/time is your ferry crossing. I might be about to join you for a cycle? Let me know, if you want to.
Thanks for that useful info Iain. I’ll probably take your advice and use the Cobbs Meadow site instead. My plan is to spend Monday cycling from London down to Canterbury and then stay overnight leaving early on Tuesday to catch the ferry to Boulogne… Love it of you could join me; tell me where and when!